It’s been less than a year since Shootz Fish & Beer debuted at Oceanside’s Tremont Collective. At first glance, it’s a seafood concept operating out of a built-in kitchen and service counter within tenant-company Bottlecraft’s bar-equipped bottle shop, but there’s more to it than that. The beer is every bit as quintessential as the food. So, too, are Oceanside and the coastal-lifestyle vibe Shootz’s founders—pro-surfer Cheyne Magnusson, locally renowned chef and restaurateur Davin Waite and brewery design-build vet Chris Slowey—aim to deliver through their collaborative interest. In order to do that, Shootz will need to grow. So that’s what the company is going to do starting this week.
To date, Shootz’s beer has been available exclusively at Bottlecraft Oceanside. That singular offering, a spritzy light lager produced through an alternating-proprietorship with Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing, is a flagship built to perfectly complement every aspect of the Shootz concept.
“We wanted to focus in on one style we really like that would go good with our seafood-centric menu of poke and fish tacos; a beer that, rather than fight with the food, complements it while also working with the active outdoor lifestyle we all live, be it surfing, boating or fishing,” says Slowey. “It’s a good, approachable beer, but with next-level quality from working with our partners at AleSmith.”
As soon as today, cans of Shootz Lager will hit taps and shelves at retail accounts care of the company’s recently inked contract with Scripps Ranch-based Scout Distribution. Rather than launching with a full-scale blitz, the company’s founders are sticking to their home turf, divvying an 80-barrel batch of their beer to bars, restaurants, liquor stores and bottle shops in Oceanside.
“All of us founders have lived in Oceanside for many years, and some of us were born and raised here. We’ve been here since before it was the food-and-beverage destination it is now,” says Slowey. “We want to honor our roots and have this be an Oceanside brand and an Oceanside beer, so we’re starting with our local neighborhoods first, then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
When asked why Shootz is launching with just one beer, Slowey notes a respect for San Diego County’s world-famous, award-winning brewing community, members of which he has worked with for more than a decade-and-a-half, mostly via construction projects with his firm, CLTVT. He and his partners are aware of the wealth of quality local beer that already exists and feel they don’t necessarily need to throw another IPA, for instance, into the mix.
That’s not to say Shootz won’t introduce new beers. They are toying with ideas for a Mexican-style lager, Japanese-style lager, riffs on their existing beer infused with cherry blossoms or tropical flavors, as well as a malt liquor crafted with care and respect. All of those beers figure to be brewed at AleSmith, as Shootz was conceived as a concept operating without its own production facility. But before they dive into recipe development, the Shootz team will be working to make headway on their current front-burner endeavor, a second location.
On track to debut next summer, that taproom will be sited in one of three 800-to-900-square-foot structures on Roosevelt Street in Carlsbad’s Village area and equipped with a kitchen to convey the food-and-beer experience of its Oceanside progenitor. Having its own bar will allow Shootz to debut new beers and small-batch one-offs as it sees fit, while also offering ales and lagers from other local breweries, including many Slowey has worked with in the past.
Expanding in this manner was in the business plan from day one, but Slowey, who unexpectedly happened upon the Carlsbad project site as part of his work with a CLTVT client, admits this is happening sooner than expected.
“We hadn’t planned to grow this quickly, but it was an opportunity that took me off guard and it looked way too perfect not to do a taproom concept,” says Slowey. “It’s two miles across the lagoon from our Oceanside spot, so it’s the next neighborhood down. There are a lot of people who come to San Diego and visit Carlsbad, so we’ll be looking to introduce the surf, skate, beer and food cultures to them. Our aim is to shake things up and build a fun atmosphere.”
Part of that will involve collaborations with fellow tenants at The Cottages on Roosevelt, including coffee operation Revolution Roasters, Stella Jean’s Ice Cream and, of course, Waite’s plant-based eatery, The Plot. Slowey foresees special events and pairings, but says the menu will continue to mirror that of the Oceanside location, providing three types of poke and three types of fish tacos, plus daily specials that allow the kitchen staff to flex their creative muscles.
“Shootz is a brand built on lessons learned from my 16 years of work helping brewing companies throughout Southern California. I’ve seen lots of breweries find a way to incorporate kitchens into their existing breweries,” says Slowey. “Rather than it be an afterthought, our team wanted food to be a key part of the concept from the start, and match the quality of what we’re doing with our beer. And on top of all that, we want a brand that is fun.”
Shootz Fish & Beer’s upcoming taproom will be located at 2956 Roosevelt Street in Carlsbad’s Village area